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Tuesday, August 9, 2016

Recycling Advancements Through Technology: Plastic in Fashion

When we think of
plastic we tend our first thoughts seem to go to water bottles or
bags. The fashion industry is another faction of our lives that
plastic prevails. There are many sources in the industry that is not
immediately obvious. Through the supply chain, or the process in
which the clothes are being made to being bought, there is a great
deal of packaging that is involved. For instance a delivery of
clothes from the factory to the rack. The garments are put into
plastic bags, when done with traveling, they get thrown out. This is
a small part of the issues in the industry yet it makes a huge
impact. Polyester is another example of plastic going into fashion.
The synthetic textile is used everywhere in the fashion industry; it
is easily capable of being mixed with different materials.
Polyester’s attributes are what make it a preference in use of
garments, it is strong and lightweight. Like cotton, though, it also
has it’s own difficulties in being recycled. Plastic in its
notoriety does not break down or degrade well.

Recycling plastic
has been an attempt to keep it from permeating out into the world.
The process of recycled plastic involves melting and forming it to
make new plastic products. This is not a perfect solution, the growth
of plastic pollution is still growing. Companies still prefer to use
plastic from original source materials. Much of the plastic that is
used also slips through the recycling process, a majority of what is
in the ocean, for instance, is microscopic. What is needed is
diversification of practices. Researchers have long been working in
various ways in response to this looming threat.

Science’s
advancements are a slow process. It takes time to develop technology
or understand the nuances of a new finding. An interesting discovery
that has been recently discussed is Ideonella sakaiensis.
This is a microbe that lives on PET (poly(ethyleneterephthalate)),
a common plastic that goes into
a multitude of products including
clothes. Discovered by a team in Japan, they have identified the
enzymes that break down PET. While
plastic eating microbes have been discussed before, this research
seems to have taken a step further in being able to manufacture the
enzyme which can break down PET on its own. It could break down
plastic to create a more effective recycling
system. This does not mean that it can be put into practice right
away; again, it takes time, but it is a step in further
than we were before.
For now we’ll have to find practices that limit the amount of
plastic produced.

One
company that has taken a
step in recycling clothes is Bionic. This company is focused on
taking trashed plastic and creating fabric out of it. Plastic
is used to create strands that go into the yarn, thus the fabric.
Question is, will they use plastic bags to ship their material?